Thread: Why Strop On Fabric Before Leather?

From Barber's Manual.

Originally Posted by ccase39

How do you clean a cotton strop?

All of the other methods will work, I've used most of them. Recently, I took my Vintage DD Cordovan apart, and cleaned the cotton strop with spray carpet cleaner and a small scrub brush. Not only did come out nice and white, it softened it up quite a bit.

I think the canvas is there for something like tough love for the razor...you know the good-cop-bad-cop routine... before the edge can touch the soft feel of the leather it has to touch the harshness of canvas so it can be more obedient. I know im not really clear with this but i hope some aspect of this can be understood

I remeber when i first started work at my currant barber shop there was a strop and a belgium coticule in a wrag. the strop was 50 years old and it had linen fabric on it...jim the barber told me it brought the edge up before the leather ...i found linen to be very efective andas said above the more broken in it gets the better it works...... I also spoke to an old barber on news years eve, he said they used a stone and a strip of balsa with browny red paste , so it seems balsa was being used 50 years ago as we do now.....

Cuz like, what better stuff do you have to do with your time -- hone? Sorry, I just always wanted to say that!

I definitely notice a difference when using linen, especially after honing. The razor is sharper, probably because all that junk (swarf, honing debris) has been removed & is not getting embedded in the leather or standing in the way of the true edge.

I look upon stropping on canvas as cleaning the edge, I consider stropping on leather to be polishing the edge. I'm probably wrong.

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

I look upon stropping on canvas as cleaning the edge, I consider stropping on leather to be polishing the edge. I'm probably wrong.

Actually, I'd also like to say that I used to 'like' the heating up the edge idea, but have since moved away from it. To me it just doesn't seem logical. leaving my razor on the windowsill at the moment would save 30 laps on canvas in the morning; or else I could do without stropping on canvas altogether in summer...

[Edit] I'm not sure why I just quoted myself...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

[Edit] I'm not sure why I just quoted myself...

how very carl

I used to put my razors in the oven to heat up and skip the linen… but it was hard on the scales and my bride complained about the smell of burning hair…